2020 Belgian Grand Prix - Spa-Francorchamps, August 28 - 30

[214270]

Mercedes needs to allow Bottas to beat Hamilton now?

They only need to give him a real fair chance rather than talk of no number 2 when it is a clear as the Schumacher and Barrichello dynamic. We have seen it time and time again. Tell me one occasion of all the times Mercedes have issued team orders e.g. instructed one driver to let the other pass, or an instruction to hold station and don't attack your team mate or an instruction to slow down so as not to pass their team mate that favored Bottas? There has not been even one. Even Hamilton himself knows this, in Baku 2017 implored the team to give Bottas the instruction to slow in Baku to help him out in his fight with Vettel.

Have you ever heard Bottas ask anything like that from the team? I don't think anyone has ever.

Firstly, in Merc you kinda have to be ahead to get preferential strategy. BOT is rarely ahead after quali and even if he’s ahead at the start on race day, HAM is very often ahead after a lap or two.

In any event, Italian GP last year you could argue HAM was sacrificed in order to secure the top step for BOT. If I remember correctly HAM pitted to undercut LEC, pitted onto a tyre that would’ve struggled to get to the end & was asked to pressure LEC the whole stint. BOT took over after HAM spent his tyres chasing, pitted, and on fresher rubber due to an offset strategy BOT still couldn’t chase down and make a pass for the win.

[dans79]

The weight is not the problem, it’s the energy that goes trough the tires, which is mostly downforce.

The immense power doesn’t help either. Those extra 200kg are peanuts.

I don't think you have looked into it deep enough from a physics perspective. The weight is a problem.

Yes, because the weight is tied to the amount of downforce needed.

[Racer X]

I couldn't sleep and then I fell asleep watching the first lap.... And when I woke up Hamilton had won... So good job Hamilton. But I'm too lazy to re watch...

[selvam_e2002]

The Hamilton interview I mentioned earlier, he was being candid yes but shouldn't be making those comments IMO.

He is putting a spin on things to protect his legacy. Bottas is nowhere near him. The delta between the Mercedes and the Red Bull is so big that even a perfect Verstappen can't prevent front row lockouts and 1-2 sweeps.

As far as Albon is concerned, he has more talent and racing vigour in his little finger than Bottas and he would have had a win and a podium by now if Hamilton didn't crash into him.

Albon and RedBull are also fighting the rest of the midfield and it's evident to even an idiot that the delta between RedBull and the midfield is smaller than the one between Mercedes and RedBull. A bad weekend for either Mercedes driver is P2 while Albon could easily finish 3rd or 8th if things really go south. Albon also hasn't been in F1 or a top team for umpteen years now. Verstappen is simply one of if not the best driver on the grid and he's getting the maximum out of a difficult car. Albon, will get there. At least, he will fight Verstappen a lot harder than Bottas vs Hamilton.

It is exactly this sort of interview that gets fans dawn the red mist. On Friday, it was going to be close with racing Point and Red Bull were quicker and on Sunday it's the second RedBull driver unable to participate in strategy fights. RedBull could have had P3-P6 today with the Alpha Tauri's as well and they were not touching the Mercedes. The only way Max had any hope of getting P2 was if he got those few hundredths in quali. Even then, I don't see him being able to hold Bottas behind considering the power in that Merc engine.

Mercedes got an easy 1-2 today with a wet set up. That says a lot. The fact that Verstappen is P2 in the classification is a testament to his talent and the heap of mediocrity that Bottas is.

Gross underestimation of Bottas. He seems faster than Rosberg both in qualifying and race pace. He may well faster than verstappen, you just do not have clue how competitive Bottas is. You make very bold claims about albon being better than Bottas.
We would need to see Bottas leave mercedes and race against a known quantity to gauge how good he is and how average hamilton was making him look.

Albon cannot even beat Renault Ocon

why so much difference between Max and Albon? First try to understand within the teammate then compare with others.

[Ringleheim]

I couldn't sleep and then I fell asleep watching the first lap.... And when I woke up Hamilton had won... So good job Hamilton. But I'm too lazy to re watch...

Funny you mention this; I fell asleep myself with about 20 laps left and the race was over. I rewound DVR and started watching again...and fell asleep a second time.

Did not bother going back for a 3rd viewing.

I find it hilarous--and tragic--that Ferrari began where they started.

As I mentioned many pages ago before the race, Ferrari is going to get slaughtered, and Hamilton was going to win the race.

I expect about the same next week at Monza.

[Ringleheim]

Yes the dirty air is a huge problem but there was dirty air in 2005 yet SCH was able to shadow ALO for over half the race because the tires were durable and did not overheat from the slightest slide. RAI was able to push the entire race from p17 and win in Suzuka 2005 on 1 set of fantastic tires, that is what durable tires and a reversed grid would give every race. The pirelli tires are garbage and destroy any racing in F1. Bolt the 2005 tires on these 2020 cars and the racing would be much better.

Lining the cars up from fastest to slowest is almost a guarantee for boring races. Turn fp3 into a 45 minute long reverse wdc grid position sprint race, take the results of that and add them to qually as it stands now to make the grid for the grand prix. Give them tires that they can push hard for the entire stint or race and every weekend will be epic and the most deserving driver will probably win most weeks.

Its not about harder or softer tires,its about tires that dont overheat at the smallest slide and then lose most grip, the pirelli tires are inherently weak and can not withstand the heat.

I am not really a fan of Pirrelli but to fair you are ignoring how heavy these modern F1 cars are compared to your examples of times when cars could push for the whole stint. Pirelli has a very dificult job making tyres for the current power and torque and weight levels.
The cars need to be lighter, and maybe with refueling will see more sprinting.

These cars are incredibly heavy pigs by traditional F1 standards. Pirelli still sucks, however.

They are having trouble engineering a tire that gets up to peek operating conditions--and then stays there--for a single stinking lap.

Come on Pirelli!

I remember when they were in F1 back in the late '80s/early '90s time period. They sucked back then too.

[Ringleheim]

It is not just Merc who lose qualli mode, what ever they call it Honda have it too, and will lose it.

Yamamoto about the "Party mode":

"Like Asaki said, we have our own party mode.
But if MB is a party, then ours is a small buffet in Utsunomiya.

The loss of party mode is supposed to impact all teams equally.

It won't. Mercedes, like everything else, figured out the party mode perfectly and had developed it to another level relative to everyone else.

They had more, so they have more to lose.

They'll still be dominate without it, though.

[JPBD1990]

I honestly admire y’alls commitment to F1 to find something to discuss about THAT race for 31 pages.

[sosic2121]

He is putting a spin on things to protect his legacy. Bottas is nowhere near him. The delta between the Mercedes and the Red Bull is so big that even a perfect Verstappen can't prevent front row lockouts and 1-2 sweeps.

As far as Albon is concerned, he has more talent and racing vigour in his little finger than Bottas and he would have had a win and a podium by now if Hamilton didn't crash into him.

Albon and RedBull are also fighting the rest of the midfield and it's evident to even an idiot that the delta between RedBull and the midfield is smaller than the one between Mercedes and RedBull. A bad weekend for either Mercedes driver is P2 while Albon could easily finish 3rd or 8th if things really go south. Albon also hasn't been in F1 or a top team for umpteen years now. Verstappen is simply one of if not the best driver on the grid and he's getting the maximum out of a difficult car. Albon, will get there. At least, he will fight Verstappen a lot harder than Bottas vs Hamilton.

It is exactly this sort of interview that gets fans dawn the red mist. On Friday, it was going to be close with racing Point and Red Bull were quicker and on Sunday it's the second RedBull driver unable to participate in strategy fights. RedBull could have had P3-P6 today with the Alpha Tauri's as well and they were not touching the Mercedes. The only way Max had any hope of getting P2 was if he got those few hundredths in quali. Even then, I don't see him being able to hold Bottas behind considering the power in that Merc engine.

Mercedes got an easy 1-2 today with a wet set up. That says a lot. The fact that Verstappen is P2 in the classification is a testament to his talent and the heap of mediocrity that Bottas is.

Gross underestimation of Bottas. He seems faster than Rosberg both in qualifying and race pace. He may well faster than verstappen, you just do not have clue how competitive Bottas is. You make very bold claims about albon being better than Bottas.
We would need to see Bottas leave mercedes and race against a known quantity to gauge how good he is and how average hamilton was making him look.

Bottas faster than Rosberg? I don't think so.

Hamilton (2013-2016): 32 wins, 35 poles
Hamilton (2017-present): 36 wins, 32 poles

Rosberg (2013-2016): 22 wins, 29 poles

Bottas (2017-present): 8 wins, 13 poles

From 2013-2016, Hamilton had 59.2% of Mercedes wins and 54.7% of Mercedes poles.
From 2017-present, Hamilton has had 81.8% of Mercedes wins and 71.1% of Mercedes poles.

Rosberg was much closer to Hamilton than Bottas is.

Although I agree with you 100%, but you have to consider that Rosberg had more or less equal status in the team. Unlike Bottas...

[proteus]

Great men stand out by themself. They dont need to seek for attention.

The way how you dislike and handle an opinion that doesnt suit yours, is prooving my point.

In show business that's what you have to do. It is a bit cringey sometimes but it has worked very well for him.
If you do not follow his instagram yet, chek out all the celebrity replies he gets to his posts. At first it was a bunch of C- list celebrities but he has worked his way up the ladder. I would say he rubs elbows with B-listers now.

Since when are celebrities a measure for anything? Celebrities are the biggest hypocrites of them all. They get fueled by money of ordinary people and jet they have the nerve to try and run the lives of these people. Im sorry, but this is how i see it.

[proteus]

At what point did Lewis say max wasn't good enough? Oh yeah... He didn't.

In the part "he and Albon" are not where "me and Valteri" are... He forgot that actually RedBull and Honda aint "where" Mercedes is jet.

I think you heard him wrong, probably chose to hear him wrong to give yourself something to hate about.

Typicall answer. How can you hear it wrong?Maybe he didnt mean it that way, but he said so. It would not be the first time he spoke too fast and had to apologise later.

[Mogster]

What does speed have to do with the points?
Rosberg has a race engineer assisting him with driver coaching and skulduggery with engine modes.

Speed is related to time. You can check who was closer in qualifying.

Rosberg is the better race driver in terms of grit and determination, but i don't think he was as close to Hamilton in race pace or even qualifying. more often than not once hamilton overtakes Rosberg, he will never see Lewis again on track.
Rosbergs wins came on pole, or through hamilton mechanical failures, or by sneakingly using engine modes that hamilton wasnt.

Also I think 2016 made Hamilton a better driver, more focused. He used to throw the others a bone from time to time by seemingly “not turning up” for occasional events, since 2016 that’s pretty much disappeared.

[FrukostScones]

and of course the rain for Sunday has disappeared. : /

Seriously? It Spa though threat of rain is always imminent

first of all I wanted to be wrong (for obvious reasons).
second that is what the forecasts said. third the visual confirmation in support race F3 confirmed forecast and gave a picture of the real situation.
sadly you jinxed it.
think about it before posting about the weather again.

[Mamba]

Also I think 2016 made Hamilton a better driver, more focused. He used to throw the others a bone from time to time by seemingly “not turning up” for occasional events, since 2016 that’s pretty much disappeared.

Both 2017 & 2018 had a few races at the seasons start where Hamilton seemingly wasn't on it where Bottas was by far the leading Mercedes. Once he got going however the season quickly became predictable and Bottas fell back. Same this year in Austria. A series of errors. It was like off track antics were on his mind. Come Styria and well... We are back to predictable races with what Merc will win bar some extreme circumstances.

[mkay]

Also I think 2016 made Hamilton a better driver, more focused. He used to throw the others a bone from time to time by seemingly “not turning up” for occasional events, since 2016 that’s pretty much disappeared.

Both 2017 & 2018 had a few races at the seasons start where Hamilton seemingly wasn't on it where Bottas was by far the leading Mercedes. Once he got going however the season quickly became predictable and Bottas fell back. Same this year in Austria. A series of errors. It was like off track antics were on his mind. Come Styria and well... We are back to predictable races with what Merc will win bar some extreme circumstances.

This was mostly due to the car ba fin an unpredictable behaviour as it regards to the tyres, not to HAM suddenly forgetting how to drive.